New York City produces over 14 million tons of trash every year with most of it trucked long-haul to out-of-state landfills. In a typical year, we spend more than $300 million dollars on trash transport while incurring a hefty environmental bill along the way.

PRESENT Architecture

The Green Loop, as PRESENT calls its project, would include waterfront parks with plenty of green space to lure residents. Underneath the top level would be extensive composting facilities. The network of 10 garbage islands would leverage transportation infrastructure already in place, plus offer somewhere to process all those food scraps from NYC’s new curbside composting pilot program.